Perth, July 15, 2008 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Pilbara explorer, Warwick Resources Limited (ASX:WRK) today announced significant near-surface iron ore intersections from Phase 1 resource drilling at its 100% owned Caramulla South iron ore project, located near Newman in WA.
Caramulla South lies 19km to the east of BHP Billiton's Jimblebar iron ore mine and is strategically located between Ferraus Ltd's Robertson Range iron ore project and the nearest rail head.
The project consists of a 4km long east-west striking strip of Marra Mamba Formation located near the northern margin of the exploration licence. Nearly 2km of iron-enriched Marra Mamba Formation has been mapped in outcrop, while a further 2km of projected strike is concealed beneath sand and alluvial cover.
The resource drilling programme has outlined another significant iron ore deposit for the Company, with best results from the first phase including 36m @ 57.73% Fe from 2m depth. It follows the promising scout RC results from Caramulla South in November last year.
Warwick Resources Managing Director Bruce McQuitty said the results confirmed the potential of the strategically located Caramulla South project, with a resource estimation expected next month.
"The project is in a prime iron ore location, and has the advantage of a low phosphorous content, minimal overburden and virtually no groundwater," Mr McQuitty said.
"These characteristics also apply to the Company's recently discovered Jimblebar Range iron ore deposit which is only 8km from BHP Billiton's railway."
These discoveries are a direct result of the Company's strategy of targeting strategically located, near-surface direct shipping iron ore," Mr McQuitty said.
The Phase 1 resource drilling programme consisted of 26 RC holes for a total of 1,000m. The programme targeted areas of outcropping iron enrichment at the western and eastern ends of the project.
The drilling has defined a zone of iron mineralisation (>50% Fe) near the western end of the project which is 1km long, between 100m and 150m wide, up to 36 metres thick and extends from surface to depths of 46m. The mineralisation is mostly "hardcap" material - a harder near-surface layer which characteristically has a superior lump to fines ratio than the softer, deeper Marra Mamba ore. The mineralisation also has a low phosphorous content; the weighted average grade of all intersections at 50% Fe cut-off is 0.050% P.
Phase 2 RC drilling (29 holes), testing the central and eastern project area, has recently been completed. A substantial zone of detrital iron up to 34m thick and over 100m wide has been identified (Figure 3). The detrital iron is interpreted to occur as an east-west meandering channel fill deposit, overlying eroded remnant Marra Mamba Formation. A more recent north-south oriented alluvial channel has incised the central portion of the detrital iron deposit. The detrital iron mineralisation represents an additional exploration target which will be subject to further evaluation. Detrital iron deposits have been identified and are mined at many other operations in the Pilbara.
Geological modelling of the Caramulla South deposit is in progress and resource estimation is scheduled for August. The Company advises that results from Phase 2 drilling at Caramulla and a recently completed first pass RC drilling programme at Woggaginna are expected in 6-8 weeks time.
Warwick's iron ore projects near Newman are:
Jimblebar Range is an area of iron enrichment approximately 1.8km long and from 50m to 200m wide, developed over a steeply dipping sequence of banded iron formation. Drilling has intersected thick high grade near surface mineralisation, including 76m @ 60.4% Fe from 18m depth, 60m @ 60.5% Fe from 6m depth, 58m @ 60.6% Fe from 10m depth and 44m @ 61.3% Fe from 14m depth.
Caramulla South has extensive surficial iron enrichment within an east-west striking strip of Marra Mamba Formation, up to 150m wide and 4km long, near the northern margin of the exploration licence. Drilling to date has returned significant intersections, including: 36m @ 57.73% Fe from 2m depth, 22m @ 59.29% Fe from 4m depth, 21m @ 56.3% Fe from 15m depth and 11m @ 59.2% Fe from 9m depth.
Woggaginna has extensive areas of surficial iron enrichment, developed over banded iron formation confirmed by detailed mapping and sampling. Grades up to 63.0% Fe and low contaminants indicate DSO potential.
Jimblebar CID - a 3km long mesa from 75m to 150m wide capped by pisolitic iron mineralisation. An initial drill traverse completed across the CID demonstrated that the channel contains up to 7m of iron-rich pisolite grading to 57% Fe. Phosphorous levels are very low, ranging from 0.020% to 0.025%.
Ten Mile CID is a recently identified channel iron target over 3km in length and up to 400m wide, with potential for further mineralisation beneath shallow cover. Initial rock chip sampling returned grades up to 58.5% Fe.
Grassroots Iron Targets - areas of surficial iron enrichment, developed over banded iron formation, have been mapped at Black Hills. Multiple targets for channel iron mineralisation have been identified on the Company's tenements.
Contact
Bruce McQuitty
Warwick Resources Limited
Phone: 08 9481 8181 / Mobile: 0409 929 121
Email: bmcquitty@warwickresources.com.au
Website: www.warwickresources.com.au
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